Interview with Blood Ritual

 BLOOD RITUAL

Interviewed by Patrick Schroeder


1. Hails Tim!! Please tell the readers a little bit about yourself.
I have always been fascinated by the darker side of life and never bought into the bullshit that white light religions promoted. I studied the religions and history of the world. As I grew older I liked a lot of the Black and Death metal but noticed that they didn’t seem to know what they were talking about. Around the same time (at age 15) that I began playing bass, I discovered the works of Anton LaVey and realized that I was a Satanist. I then had the idea that I would fuse real Satanism and magical knowledge with extreme music to make the sort of thing that I wanted to hear in other bands. 20 years later my goals have pretty much remained the same.

2. Your newest cd is a masterpiece of dark death metal. Are you satisfied with how it came out? Have you heard any feedback from the press yet?
As with any artist, I am my own worst critic. There are always areas that need improvement, but over all I am fairly pleased with the results. Press coverage has been back and forth, none of which concerns me for I did not make it for them. I create music to please myself. Whether others like it or not makes no difference.

3. In the bio it stated you were the sole member of Blood Ritual. So I was interested did you learn/play all the instruments yourself or hire session members? If you were the one playing all the instruments which one was the easiest to learn? Which was hardest to play?
Actually I had a session drummer named Neil Wong. The rest is all me. I would say that the guitar was the hardest for me to play for I am still a novice at it. The bass was easiest for I have been playing it since 1984.

4. At what age were you first drawn to music {namely metal}? Who are some of your favorite musicians? If you were not in a band what do you think you would be doing now?
I was drawn to metal in my early years (4 or 5) bands like Iron Butterfly, Kiss, Judas Priest all drew me like a moth to the flame.

5. Since you have played in both a one-man band and band with other members in it which do you prefer? What do you feel are the advantages and disadvantages to being in a one man band?
It’s hard to say, both have their pro’s and con’s. Being a solo artist you get to have complete creative control yet you have to do a whole hell of a lot more work. Being in a band you get outside input and don’t have to work as hard but then you have to deal with petty ego issues (usually arising when you cut or revise one of their lame riffs.)

6. it’s pretty obvious that your music/lyrics are based around the satanic/occult philosophy. When did you first become interested in the dark arts?
I became interested in the Dark Arts at the tender age of nine. Since then I have tried to learn all that I can. I still have much to learn.

7. What are your opinions of Anton LaVey {R. I. P} and the Church of Satan? Who are some other occultists you admire? To someone just becoming interested in studying/learning more on Satanism, what is your advice?
Anton LaVey was possibly the most advanced man to ever walk the earth. The Church of Satan is a ground breaking body politic of like minded thinkers that could very well change the world. It is making history every day and by its very existence it threatens to shatter religious falsehoods and esoteric nonsense. Others I admire are Peter Gilmore, Rex Church, Nemo, Blanch Barton, Boyd Rice, Sir Francis Dashwood, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain, Carl Jung; the list goes on and on.
To anyone just becoming interested in Satanism, I would say “read The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devils Notebook< Satan Speaks and The Church of Satan first. This will give you a fundamental grasp of the philosophy of Satanism as well as giving you a list of other materials with which to continue your education.” I would also add that real Satanists are born, not made. You either have been drawn in this direction all your life or not. If not, I recommend that you try something else.

8. I was interested what is your opinion on the following subject’s; a. the death penalty
I am all for it. Why should we foot the bill for some scumbag who commits the foulest of acts? Let them suffer the consequences for their actions. Laws would be much more severe if I were in charge.

b. the welfare system

It is a disgusting mechanism that supports the weak at the expense of the strong. I work hard to earn my way through life and am appalled at the amount of my tax dollars spent to support these worthless sods.

c. church burnings.

Church burnings, in my opinion, are a waste of time. It only serves to rally support for the idiots who believe in that crap and causes people to panic when a real Satanist is seen. Instead, why don’t you try being a person of real substance and worth, bettering the world around you with your presence? That will do much more towards getting others to listen to you and take you seriously.

9. Do you think the world will ever be totally 100 percent free of religion? What do you think the world would be like if religion/god was never around?
I don’t think it will. Man needs that sort of psychological kick that he gets from rote and ceremony. Otherwise it would have died out entirely long ago. Instead of an externalized force that “white lighters” call god or gods, we Satanists internalize our power and use rote and ceremony to reaffirm our belief in logic and reason and further our goals upon the earth, as well as trigger the psychological stimulation in an intellectual decompression chamber (i.e. ritual chamber) by suspending our disbelief in order to engage our imaginations for the purpose of ritual.

10. In your opinion what is the best and worst thing about the underground today? And what does the term "metal underground" mean to you?
To be honest I don’t pay all that much attention to such labels as “metal underground” and such. As far as I can tell most metal is underground and has only a fringe of supporters. Don’t get me wrong, I love extreme metal. All of the bands I have met and played with as well as corresponded to are great and the fans are some of the most loyal in all existence. It just seems to me that a lot of “under-grounders” use it as some sort of status symbol in order to lord it over others because they think that their choice of Black or Death Metal bands are better than any one else’s. At that point becomes a farce.

11. Well I am out of questions thank you for taking the time to fill this out.
No problem. Take care and Hail Satan!

nathan@napalmrecords.com